Load balancing cable modems in a cable network system maximizes bandwidth and usage of a cable plant. A load balancing feature in a cable modem termination system (CMTS) allows a system to distribute cable modems across radio frequency (RF) downstream and upstream channels on the same cable interface card or across different cable interface cards in the system. Load balancing is enhanced and supported by allowing cable modems to be moved to different channels using dynamic channel change (DCC) or dynamic bonding change (DBC) using configurable initialization techniques.
To effectuate load balancing, DCC/DBC requests used in Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification (DOCSIS) implementations may dynamically change cable modem upstream or downstream channels without forcing a cable modem to go offline and without re-registration after the change. In some cases, such as re-initialization scenarios, the cable modem will go offline and re-register. A DCC/DBC request may be transmitted by a CMTS to cause a cable modem (CM) to change the upstream channel(s) on which it is transmitting, the downstream channel(s) on which it is receiving, or both. The DCC/DBC can be done to move a cable modem that is physically connected to both source and target upstream or downstream channels, or both.
If initialization due to a DCC or DBC request fails a certain number of times for a cable modem, the cable modem may be removed from the load balancing group. Better techniques for handling cable modem channel or bonding change requests specifying initialization techniques are desirable, particularly where the cable modem fails the initialization.
It is noted that while the accompanying FIGS. serve to illustrate embodiments of concepts that include the claimed invention, and explain various principles and advantages of those embodiments, the concepts displayed are not necessary to understand the embodiments of the present invention, as the details depicted in the FIGS. would be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art having the benefit of the description herein.